Grand Line, White Earth Island—Baltigo.
The atmosphere at the Revolutionary Army's hidden headquarters was as tense as a drawn bowstring.
Normally, the organization operated in the shadows, its commanders spread across the four seas, quietly building strength and sowing the seeds of rebellion per the long-term, undercover orders of their Commander-in-Chief, Monkey D. Dragon.
Then, the first piece of news had dropped: a public execution.
The Whitebeard Pirates versus Marine Headquarters.
A war that would shake the world.
This alone was enough to recall all the army's top commanders to Baltigo to strategize.
No sooner had they assembled than an even more shocking, utterly baffling piece of news arrived, delivered by the newly-rechristened World Economic Journal:
"Whitebeard, the Strongest Man in the World, has bowed to the Marines?!"
What in the hell was going on?
"This news is absurd! Whitebeard surrendering to the Marines? I'd never believe it, even if you beat me to death!" one commander scoffed.
"Yeah, it must be fake! Morgans has finally lost it!"
"But… but if it is true… how terrifying would the Marines be after absorbing Whitebeard's entire force?! Wouldn't the World Government's power become completely unstoppable?!"
"Silence!"
Dragon's deep, commanding voice cut through the clamor, instantly halting all discussion.
He stood in the shadows, his face a mask of grim contemplation.
"Whether the news is true or false, we must prepare for the worst."
A new, profound sense of unease spread among the revolutionaries.
They stood ready, awaiting... they weren't even sure what.
Suddenly, a massive shadow blotted out the pale light filtering into their ravine base.
A sound like a screaming meteor grew from a whistle to a roar, hurtling toward them at breakneck speed.
"BOOM—!"
A deafening, earth-shattering crash shook the entire island of Baltigo.
The ground heaved, and the cavernous headquarters rained dust and debris.
"Cough, cough… What… what just happened?!"
"An enemy attack?!"
Dragon, moving with the speed of the wind, was already at the impact site, his top commanders—Sabo and the others not yet present—materializing beside him.
As the thick, choking dust gradually settled, a towering, burly, all-too-familiar silhouette slowly came into view, standing in the center of a newly-formed crater.
"..." Dragon's eyes narrowed, staring intently at the figure.
"Kuma…?" His voice was a low, hoarse rasp, tinged with utter disbelief.
"Kuma?! Is that you?"
"!!!"
"It's… Kuma-san?!"
"It really is Kuma-san! But why would he suddenly appear here… like that?!"
The Revolutionary Army officers stared, completely shocked.
Kuma—their former high-ranking officer, their comrade, the man who had left them years ago on a desperate, personal quest to save his daughter, Bonney.
The man they all believed had been turned into a mindless, emotionless cyborg slave of the World Government.
"..."
Kuma slowly raised his head, his gaze, which should have been blank and unfeeling, now held a clear, familiar intelligence.
His mechanical voice was flat, but his words were anything but.
He locked eyes with his former leader.
"Dragon."
"Ivankov… has been released."
The moment these words were spoken, the revolutionaries erupted into a new wave of stunned murmurs, exchanging disbelieving glances.
'Commander Ivankov, released from Impel Down? How is that possible?'
Yet Kuma's next words were the ones that completely detonated the room, shattering their entire understanding of the world.
"The old Marines… have broken free from the World Government's control. They have formed… the New Marine."
He held up the thick Bible he always carried.
"I bring the highest directive from the New Marine's supreme leader—Mike."
"WHAT?!"
Dragon's pupils constricted so sharply they almost vanished.
"New Marine? The Marines seceding from the World Government? Mike's directive? Kuma, what in the world is going on?!"
The commanders and officers were utterly dumbfounded.
The previously tense atmosphere was instantly vaporized, replaced by an overwhelming, suffocating shock.
Every single face bore a massive, invisible question mark, their minds reeling in chaos, completely unable to process the explosive, reality-bending information Kuma had just delivered.
In just a few short sentences, the sheer volume of revelations had struck them like a bolt from the blue, leaving them dizzy.
Ivankov's release? Bizarre, but perhaps explainable as some convoluted government plot.
But the Marines—the World Government's most powerful, most loyal enforcement agency—breaking free to establish their own organization?
This was more absurd than the World Government suddenly announcing its own dissolution!
And who was "Mike"? The leader of this New Marine? And why was Kuma, their Kuma, carrying his "supreme directive"?!
Wait…
Wait…!
Mike!!!
Dragon's pupils, which had just constricted, now dilated in a flash of dawning, terrifying recognition.
A flicker of something that looked almost like fear flashed in his deep, shadowed eyes.
He pressed his lips into a thin, tight line, struggling to maintain his calm exterior, but inside, a violent storm of emotion raged.
In an instant, his mind was transported back to that night, back to that tall, upright figure draped in a Justice cloak, his face hidden by the moonlight.
He remembered the peerless, impossible sword slash that had split the sky, a slash that had effortlessly overwhelmed his own power.
"Captain Mike…" Dragon murmured, his voice so low it was almost a whisper, lost in the shocked silence.
The long-healed scar on his chest, the one he had received that night, seemed to throb with a phantom pain.
The overwhelming, crushing sense of powerlessness he had felt, the feeling of being utterly, completely outmatched by absolute strength, surged back into his heart.
"Hiss—"
Sensing the profound, uncharacteristic shift in their Commander-in-Chief's aura, the officers behind him suddenly snapped to attention, their own minds making the connection as they collectively drew in sharp, shocked breaths.
Mike!!!
That name was like a curse, a ghost story they whispered in the dark.
The Marine Headquarters captain who had, with a single attack, grievously wounded their invincible leader and forced the entire Revolutionary Army into strategic hiding!
The man whose "Justice" they had been trying, and failing, to comprehend ever since.
And that man… the man whose true ideal seemed to be slacking off… was now the leader of this New Marine?!
"Kuma…" Dragon's gaze was complicated, searching, as he stared at the man before him.
It was Kuma, but it wasn't.
The silent, taciturn giant was the same, but something fundamental, something deep within, had changed.
And that change… it unsettled Dragon more than anything else.
"The Marines… they have truly broken free from the World Government's control?" he asked, his voice heavy.
"Dragon," Kuma nodded, his voice still a monotone, but now laced with an undeniable, firm conviction.
"I know it is hard to believe. But this is the truth."
He pulled a thick, bound document from his book and handed it to his former leader.
"This is the supreme directive from Mike-san. After you read it, you will understand everything."
"..." Dragon took the document.
It was thick and heavy.
On its cover, in bold, stark, powerful letters, were the words:
New Marine Development Outline and Future Strategic Plan (Top Secret)
He flipped it open.
Line after line of text leaped out at him, each word a conceptual bomb detonating in his mind, leaving his scalp tingling and his heart racing.
"The New Marine's ideology… 'Liberation'…?!"
"Military, civil affairs, education, finance, coordination… Five core departments…?!"
"Deep-Sea Gold Rush Project… Universal welfare guarantees… Free education for all…?!"
"Eradicate… the Celestial Dragons…?!"
"Fighting… for the PEOPLE?!"
"Loyalty…"
The more Dragon read, the more his shock and awe grew, until his breathing became ragged, his hands trembling.
He felt like a traveler who had trekked through an endless, scorching desert for decades, on the verge of dying from thirst, who had suddenly stumbled upon a vast, vibrant, and real oasis.
The shock, the ecstasy, was simply beyond words.
This document… this wasn't just a strategic plan.
It was a revolutionary manifesto.
It was a blueprint to completely and totally overturn the existing world order, and it was more radical, more thorough, and more brilliantly practical than anything the Revolutionary Army had ever dreamed of.
In that single, profound instant, Dragon let go of everything.
The humiliation of being one-shot by Mike.
The frustration of being forced into hiding.
All of it seemed so petty, so trivial, in the face of this.
This was not a rival.
This was not an enemy. This was the path. This was the answer.
"Kuma… this…" Dragon abruptly raised his head, his eyes, which had seen so much darkness, now blazing with a fervent, almost desperate hope.
He had to know.
Was everything written here… was it real?
"Mm," Kuma nodded.
Dragon's entire body trembled with a lifetime of suppressed revolutionary zeal.
His voice was hoarse with an emotion he had never allowed himself to feel before.
"How…"
"How do we join the New Marine?!"
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